Due to an uptick recently in accidents at railroad crossings, the Federal Railroad Administration is stepping up efforts to keep drivers aware when their route intersects with the path of trains. The agency just announced a new partnership with Google Maps, that will provide the locations of all grade crossings in the country. [More]

For all those times you’ve glanced around at an unfamiliar intersection, cursing the wireless signal gods for denying your phone service and thus depriving you access to mapping apps, Google says it’s here to help: The company announced today that soon Google Maps will offer offline search and navigation capabilities. [More]

Unlike The Dude,* it would appear that every time an Android figure is pictured micturating upon an Apple logo, someone does have to be held responsible. In this case, it’s Google, which is apologizing after an image of an Android bot peeing on an Apple logo popped up in Google Maps. [More]

While there are many people out there applauding the woman who chased down a Google Street View car so she could flash it and expose her chest to the world, thus, crossing that off her bucket list, local authorities in her Australian town aren’t quite so pleased with her public display. [More]

We at Consumerist would like to take a moment to discuss something really important, flipping off the Google car safely: As seen in a tweet from @chrisjoonior (via @dhinkel), a driver has apparently succeeded in appearing in a Google Maps image after following the Google Car around for 20 minutes, flipping not one, but two birds. One hand on the wheel, people. That’s the least we can ask.

Nemo might never have been so hard to find, if only his ocean had a good map of the local reefs. Wayward fish with knowledge of technology will be in luck — as will anyone yearning for a view under the sea — as Google Maps is adding 360-degree Street View photos of our oceans’ coral reefs. [More]

Ah, those misty, water-colored memories of the time way back in 2007, when we had a different guy in the White House and the word “selfie” wasn’t the bane of social conversations yet. If you’ve got a hankering for days gone by, Google’s updated Street View imagery can take you back in time — only so far as seven years though, so don’t go looking for your childhood treehouse to suddenly appear on the map. [More]

Sometimes you just need a nap. A refreshing, wake-up-invigorated-to-tackle-the-rest-of-your-day nap. But what happens when you’re not at home and are unfamiliar with the best place to lay your head? Fear not, because a pair of Dutch developers have the solution: Google Naps. [More]

Gone are the days of simple radio traffic reports and plotting out your travel route before hitting the road. Today, commuters use a variety of smartphone apps designed to show real-time traffic and travel times. But is banking on an app to give you the fastest route really effective? [More]

Anyone who’s ever used Google Maps has likely searched for their own address, where they grew up or other important spots, just to see what image of the place Google has captured. But unfortunately for a man whose teen son was killed in 2009 in Richmond, Calif., it appears the image of his son’s body is shown at the spot where he was found. [More]

So there’s this donkey, on a road in Botswana, right? And like, it seemed as if he was just going along on his little donkey way when along comes Google’s Street View car and what’s this? Suddenly he’s lying on the ground. That is the sequence of events some are citing while accusing Google’s car of hitting — and gulp, maybe killing — the poor fella. But Google says its own set of pictures shows that’s not the case at all. [More]

Apple’s pride is still likely stinging just a bit from the Great Map Debacle Of 2012, but nevertheless, a new version of Google Maps is now available as an app for iPhone users on iOS 6. Google announced yesterday that the revised map had finally been approved by Apple and will now be listed in the company’s app store. [More]

As many people with an iOS device noticed when they upgraded to iOS 6, their Google Maps app had vanished into the ether, replaced with a map app that even Apple admits maybe isn’t that great right now. For people who still wanted to use Google Maps, they could still view them via a web browser, and now Google has turned on Street View. [More]

Writing “Toyota Sucks” on your roof and turning your Toyota truck into an anti-Toyota billboard may seem like a slightly fruitless exercise. That is, until both of them end up on Google Maps, much to the amusement of the Internet. [More]

Getting lost inside the sprawling wonderland that is any IKEA is likely a shared experience, and one that may happen less for Android smartphone users. Google Maps 6.0 rolled out some changes on Tuesday, including indoor mapping of certain retail locations and airports. [More]

A week after her story went up in the Star Ledger, a woman is happy to report that Google Maps is no longer telling people that her driveway is the entrance to the state park. That’s good, but now there’s a new story of people missing weddings and funerals because Google Maps shows a church as being clear on the other side of town from where it really is. [More]

For more than 23 years, Laurie has lived in a New Jersey home bordering a state park. And for two decades, her driveway went unmolested by folks looking for the park entrance. But now she’s got six signs up in her drive to tell people that her land is not for their recreational use, all because of a goof on Google Maps. [More]